Mechanical Engineering Degree

[monkeyhero97]

Hi there all
I didn't know where to put this one so put it in general chat.
As a lot of you know now, I am 17 and extremely passionate about steam, model engineering etc.....  My whole life I've wanted to be an engineer and thats what I've set out to do. I currently live in Switzerland, so I'm not doing A-levels, im doing the International Baccélaurat, which finally seems to be getting the respect it deserves in the UK.
I'll be applying for universites ( UK unis aswell as swiss maybe) within no time ( I have around 9 months) and I have done extensive research, looking at rankings, trying to gather opinions from people and matching my ability with requirements. 
The subjects I'm studying at higher level ( 6 hours of lessons at week, the equilvalent of the three A-level subjects) are maths ( you can compare higher maths to further maths) physics and french. Then at standard ( 4 hours of lessons a week) I'm doing economics, english litterature and german. 
 I'd been interested in hearing if any of you have experinces with engineering degrees and whereabouts you did them, if you'd recommend mechanical engineering degrees, whether you enjoyed it or not etc....
I'd been really grateful and happy to hear from you
Cheers
Marc

[charley]

Marc,

Within the UK, certain universities excel in certain fields. For example, Cranfield - aerospace, Coventry - car design, Southampton (both) - marine engineering and ship design. Have an idea of what career you wish to move into when applying. As it's not what you know it's who you know for taking on post graduation. Many recruiters return to their old university.

Good luck

Charley

[monkeyhero97]

Thanks
Orginally I wanted to go to do marine engineering; as I've always wanted to be involved in transport. Boating is a family hobby for me, so it would fit in well. However, my true passion is rail, but when I first looked there was no degree involving railways. However, Newcastle seem to offering a degree which seems to cover rail ( low carbon) in depth. Since I always lived in South when I was in the UK, I've always wanted to live in the North for a bit to see what its like to live.. My whole english side of my family is from Yorkshire, so Newcastle seems very attractive since it's not too far and apparently it's a great place to be a student.... and there is the added bonus that the model engineering society is just near the Uni!
Newcastle incidently top the ranking for marine engineering at the moment, I would have thought Southampton ( they do ask for better marks although its slighty pushing it for me) but its the jeordies.
Marc

[dscott]

Another thing to take into cosideration is the location and campus of the University. I was at Coventry in the early 80's, worked for the University
of Plymouth and have visited Birmingham Reading and Exeter. Exeter is superbly landscaped with me visiting over 30 years. Birmingham yearly and the campus
is slightly older with Reading being recomended by a son of my ex boss. Their facilities and campus also being superb!
Then you have to take into account the local Model Engineering track, accomodation and the pubs. This is of course in a strict order.
I cant recomend Plymouth as it is a cramped inner city campus with the engineering block the last one on the list to be refurbished. Covering it in grey
sheet steel does not do it for me!

Good luck in choosing.
David.

[goldstar31]

Newcastle upon Tyne? Well the great inovators who lived in and around the Tyne are gone and so are the factories. Once upon a time- not long ago, I was the only boat builder and that was in the front garden with a Mirror dinghy kit. One of the last survivors of marine egineering plays the barrel organ and his offspring didn't do their marine eng. in GeorgieLand.Sorry but think again.

The richest graduate electrical engineer in Newcastle of recent years never wired a three pin plug!

Probably the best way to learn engineering is to go to China. I was with a few in Chinatown , Newcastle, last Monday. Arguably, they were doing rather nicely! Arguably, the best English guy in steam is not in Newcastle and he certainly isn't even a graduate of any university.

As for a model engineering club? Well, is this entry into the World of Engineering? Nice for a Sunday afternoon or a Wednesday night with a cup of railway tea and people wearing funny shiny topped caps. Nothing wrong with that. Not me anymore though I confess to liking thoughts of a grandfather working in with his dad in Timothy Hackworth's place in Shildon, or my Dad and both uncles - making, repairing and boilering locos. There was nothing wrong then. The world accepted the injuries of engineers in the same way as people accepted other young men being killed or injured elsewhere.

Model engineering? A nice hobby that heartens back to yester year with the image of family dead in an explosion and only recognised by the house keys in his pockets, or a man who was crushed when a loco boiler tube fell or a buckled LMS Driver from firing draughts and who drove the Royals out of Carlisle.

Think again, there is a better way to earn a crust or a bowl of rice.

My thoughts- of course.

[steamlaser]

Nov 23, 2014 17:36:48 GMT monkeyhero97 said:

Hi there all
I didn't know where to put this one so put it in general chat.
As a lot of you know now, I am 17 and extremely passionate about steam, model engineering etc.....  My whole life I've wanted to be an engineer and thats what I've set out to do. I currently live in Switzerland, so I'm not doing A-levels, im doing the International Baccélaurat, which finally seems to be getting the respect it deserves in the UK.
I'll be applying for universites ( UK unis aswell as swiss maybe) within no time ( I have around 9 months) and I have done extensive research, looking at rankings, trying to gather opinions from people and matching my ability with requirements. 
The subjects I'm studying at higher level ( 6 hours of lessons at week, the equilvalent of the three A-level subjects) are maths ( you can compare higher maths to further maths) physics and french. Then at standard ( 4 hours of lessons a week) I'm doing economics, english litterature and german. 
 I'd been interested in hearing if any of you have experinces with engineering degrees and whereabouts you did them, if you'd recommend mechanical engineering degrees, whether you enjoyed it or not etc....
I'd been really grateful and happy to hear from you
Cheers
Marc

My son is currently in his 3rd year of doing a four degree in Mech . Eng. in U.C.L.
I have also worked in a successful Mech Eng. Department. until they recently shut it down.
Engineering has changed and Mechatronics has moved to the forefront. You are going to need good maths and computational skills. (My son's first year was spent with people who needed help in getting up to the standard of maths required.)
Should you have any specific question, I will reply to them by direct E mail off this site.

[jackrae]

Might I suggest you write to the major European locomotive manufacturers and enquire where they get their stock of raw graduate engineers from. That should let you know which universities the companies within the industry consider produce worthwhile graduates. You might also investigate the concept of "sandwich" courses whereby industry either sponsors undergraduates doing part-time degree courses (mine was based on 6months at uni + 6 months industry over a 5-year period) or takes in "free-lance" undergraduates during their industrial semesters. The main benefit of the sandwich concept is that you graduate with at least some "experience" of industry.

Golden rules of university sanity - all work and no play is not good for the soul and girls and beer are essential college recreational requirements.

[pault]

Hi
I never went to Uni but did an old fashioned mechanical engineering apprenticeship which has served me very well I have been to lots of interesting places and done lots of interesting things as a direct result. Ironically my current job which should involve me in lots of mechanical engineering has mainly involved me in electronic/electrical/computer projects. 3d printing is and will change engineering considerably in years to come so that is probably an area to explore. Engineering of many types can be a fascinating career path but it is not the way to get rich.interestingly my son is at UCL doing a PhD in Natural sciences. I met medical consultant who lectures at UCL and told him what my son is doing he said he will not make much money but will get a lot of satisfaction and will always find interesting work.

there is an argument these days to take a job which gives you some satisfaction and pays well, then get your kicks and feelings of achievement through the hobbies the job funds. It is a very difficult decision for someone like you as the changes in engineering are getting faster and faster. You need to be careful that you don't train, and aim for a discipline which will be obsolete and consigned to the history books within a few years of you finishing your courses.

I guess the main thing is to be flexible and embrace the new technologies and have a very broad outlook.

[Roger]

Hi Marc,
I took my Degree in Mechanical Engineering in Portsmouth before it turned into a University. Maths is a good subject to study because it's used extensively and I struggled with it. Some of the subjects came as a bit of a shock, "Continuum Mechanics' being the most obvious one. That involves things like pin joined frame structures being treated using Matrices to describe the stresses and deflections at each node. I don't think I ever really understood that, it was a step too far for me.
Make sure you choose a University that has a strong Electronic and Computer Science element to the Degree. No Engineer today can get by being a "Mechanical Engineer" any more, the world has moved on.
It's a scary prospect and you'll find that you're drowning and totally out of your depth at times, but that's perfectly normal. This is why some do drop out though, they become overwhelmed rather than digging deep and working their way through it. I'm sure some Degrees courses are going to try to lure Under Graduates with trendy 3D Printing, and it's an important emerging technology. Don't be too taken up with all of that though, it will be covered by all the courses. Just pick a course that has a broad spread of subjects that appeal to you. You will only use a tiny percentage of what you study in your professional life so it's important to get a really broad education. Specialising is a mistake that will limit what you can do.

[goldstar31]

Nov 23, 2014 20:53:03 GMT pault said:

Hi
I never went to Uni
I guess the main thing is to be flexible and embrace the new technologies and have a very broad outlook.

Embrace retirement! I am still on the same course after 35 years. Long apprenticeships and think of the loss of perks. Only one holiday each year!

I've a free bus pass and free TV as compensation.

Somewhat quizzically

Norm

[Deleted]

OR------- for an entirely different take on all this you could always join the Royal Navy and get the Degrees etc. whilst travelling at the same time !! ...........AND --- they'll pay YOU to do it !!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>> www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/how-to-join/funding-and-scholarships .......................................... www.royalnavy.mod.uk/engineers ........................ The Grey Funnel Shipping Line !!

[Roger]

Those were the days! Good old General Motors paid me to do mine too, fat chance of finding a company to sponsor you like that now.

[charley]

The grey funnel line still sponsors candidates through university as do the crabs. Manadon has long since gone so I assume they do their degrees at uni sponsored and head off to Dartmouth/crab well respectively for officer training. The big power companies have graduate training schemes as does Network Rail.

[Rob]

Nov 23, 2014 20:53:03 GMT pault said:

there is an argument these days to take a job which gives you some satisfaction and pays well, then get your kicks and feelings of achievement through the hobbies the job funds. 

I did this, and recommend it. I'd much prefer to be working with my hands, but there's more money to be made working with computers. I always wanted to get into the mechanical side of heavy industry, as that's what interests me the most. But that industry is declining in this country and the future doesn't look brilliant.

I don't intend to do what I'm doing for the rest of my life, I'd like to make enough to live comfortably and then maybe play with cars full time. The car scene here isn't quite the same as the U.S, for example, but it's something I enjoy doing so why not? I've always got the option of falling back and doing consultancy if money is short, and if you've got a bright idea it's possible to make a lot of money very quickly.

Anyway. As other's have said, look at the career you want and work back from there. There are far too many people who go to uni and leave with a degree that's just not worth anything in the world of employment, which is a shame.

[ilvaporista]

Just a word from a parent that is going through the paying side... (three times..)
The level of debt that you are expected to incur in studying in the UK is significant. Instead of £9k per year tuition plus living (£5K) for 4 years, totalling up to £60k + why not take advantage of what Scotland has to offer. As you are an EU citizen you can still get tuition at Scottish Universities for the same price as Scottish citizens (depends on the course but about £1900 max. per year tuition).

Leaving Uni with a £40k loan around your neck will not be fun. But if you work part time during the course you may just about break even in Scotland. Hurry though as the situation is likely to change before long bringing EU citizens in line with English students and having to pay the full £9k per year.

I was 'educated' with degrees from Teesside and Cambridge (Technical) then Aston (Business). At University, as with life, the more you put in the more you will get out.

As well as the course look at what the place has to offer and your expectations, be honest about what you want.

I have spent most of my working life in the car industry after being in nuclear power stations for a while. Although my role is nominally technical my actual working days is managing people, communication and administration, unfortunately in many cases the higher you go in an organisation the more removed you become from the technical side, but to compensate the pay is better....

Choose a course which interests you, is within your capabilities and has prospects at the end of it. As a reader of many cv's I look at the course done and the grade obtained, then I look at what the candidate did as extra.

[alanstepney]

My experience of university was that it was an excellent place to see how many young ladies one could get to remove their clothes.

At the same time, I did manage to collect some pieces of paper that allege that I know something-or-other, so it wasnt all just fun.

But, as Adrian said, the cost of education today is a major stumbling block in England.

[alanstepney]

I should add that some companies still do fund further education.
I was talking to the personel manager of a large technical company early this year and he told me that they had 50 vacancies for people with a technical or maths degree, who they woud then fund for futher qualifications.

Almost all the applicants had degrees in Media Studies etc, which was no use for that company (or I suspect, anyone else).

[ejparrott]

Father did Mech Eng at Loughborough, at the time it was the best place to go. He did a four year course sponsered by the NCB and then spent the next 20 years as mine engineer

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2014 8:54:14 GMT ejparrott said:

Father did Mech Eng at Loughborough, at the time it was the best place to go. He did a four year course sponsered by the NCB and then spent the next 20 years as mine engineer

------------------ The Grey Funnel Line do their Engineering degrees at Welbeck...

[monkeyhero97]

I've just been looking Loughborough, they aren't asking for too much and of course they have reputation and the GCR next door for volunteering . Reagrding, I am in a long term relationship ( well for a teenager, 18 months and counting is long) at the moment, laugh at me and say I'm too young for that but for the moment I have no plans to leave her, nor does she. Regarding price, my parents luckily put money to one side years ago, and they will fund me throughout the 4 years like they did for my sister; so I'm lucky regarding that and grateful for it.

Loughborough would seem like a good place for me maybe, they aren't asking too much pointswise.

Marc